Russian prosecutors have begun extradition procedures in the case of a Bosnian Serb wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Prosecutors in the Khanti-Mansiisk region of western Siberia say documents forwarded to their superior in Moscow Wednesday show that there are no barriers to the extradition of Dragan Zelenovic, 44. Russian police arrested the suspect last week. The Hague tribunal indicted Mr. Zelenovic in 1999 on charges of rape and torture of Muslim prisoners in the city of Foca in the early years of the Bosnian conflict.

At the time, he was the deputy commander of a Bosnian Serb paramilitary unit in Foca.